NCAA Basketball: 10 biggest position battles to watch for 2023-24 season

10. Memphis Tigers

Position battle: SF – Jaykwon Walton vs David Jones (if Deandre Williams is eligible)

It’s been an incredibly busy offseason for Coach Penny Hardaway and the staff, landing a bunch of transfers from the portal. Among those that are very likely to start include Alabama transfer point guard Jahvon Quinerly, Florida State combo guard Caleb Mills, and Jordan Brown, who won Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year at Louisiana Lafayette.

That leaves two positions. And one of them is currently being held up by Deandre Williams, the starting forward that averaged 17.7 ppg and 8.2 rpg last season. He’s currently applying for a waiver for an extra year of eligibility and if he gets it, Williams certainly will be another starter.

If Williams isn’t around, Temple transfer Nick Jourdain could very well be the starter. He was a role player at Temple with a career average of 5.8 ppg and 4.3 rpg but he’s a true four-man on the roster compared to David Jones, a 6’7 transfer wing from St. John’s. He averaged 13.2 ppg and 6.8 rpg last season and can create his own shot but shot just 39% from the field and 29% from three-point range.

Walton is the newest addition to Memphis, after a bunch of twists and turns this offseason. He was the leading scorer at Wichita State, averaging 13.9 ppg. But he’s one of the more efficient perimeter players in all of NCAA Basketball, shooting 54% from the field and 40% from deep. He also was the leading scorer in the Tigers’ recent foreign tour.

Either one can be the 6th Man for Memphis but considering the previous roles they’ve had, it’ll be interesting to see how the overall chemistry works. Still, when you think about where the roster was before, it’s a good problem for the Tigers to have.